My power vent on water heater keeps running non-stop
pdog
14 years ago
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zl700
14 years agopdog
14 years agoRelated Discussions
water heater-cost to direct vent? (NJ clean energy prog)
Comments (5)oh oh oh....sounds a lot like my posts of 2012 doesn't it! I can't believe my system is 2 years old. The choices can make your head spin. I had a similar dilemma with my hwh. I eventually chose tankless and since we have a portable generator I don't worry about the power issues (which you will also have with a power vent). Have to say I LOVE the tankless. Sometimes we just seem to need a lot of hot water, with 4 adults in the house. I have a soaker tub that I love and when it's cold it is delightful to fill it and not worry about who might come home and complain I used all the hot water. I think they ripped me about $4k for that puppy. Perhaps you can sway them into a tankless for the price they quoted you. It is the slow season. I used a company starting with an H,here in south jersey, and I got them to drop about $1500 from the price they had quoted in June by waiting until this time of year. The other company would not budge. My oop was $2k, plus the 0% financed amount. I found the 0% to be very attractive as well so as not to spend cash that could be invested. I sometimes wish I'd gotten the next level up in my furnace, to variable speed from multi speed, because I had humidity issues the first summer. I think that was solved by choosing the correct speed setting as this year has been perfect and my heating has been fine as well, I did get 2-stage heat and ac. I just came up against my price limit and decided the luxury of the tankless was how I wanted to go (rather than up the heater another level) The guys here got VERY tired of me (sometimes rightly so!) Perhaps you can find the old threads (novels almost!) that I posted here about the NJ CLEAN ENERGY program. By the way, I did do some reading online and it can be true that if your house is well sealed that a conventional heater may not draft properly causing a risk of carbon monoxide buildup, which is why they talk you into a power vent or tankless. Good luck. Try not to overthink or get too wrapped up in it. Accept that you will save SOME $, but the contractor will get at least half your rebate $ in mark ups. Are you getting insulation added? I think that was a good thing that I wouldn't have done otherwise....See More75 gallon heater...yet we still run out of hot water
Comments (9)if a shower is taken for 30 minutes.thay would be the 75 gallons of water.. sounds right but its not..the heater will actually give you only about 50-60 gallons of not water because the tank is filling with cold as you use the hot it is also mixing so..if you take a shower for 30 minutes you will deplete the heater, then it needs to reheat the water. but the next person jumps in the shower. he will get cooler hot water and less of it..it all boils down to the length of showers and how lon inbetween them. when your house was built a misunderstand of a water heater system happenrd instead of a huge heater seperat heaters for different baths would have been the way to go this is also the reason of your high gas bill you have a hugh vessal of water, the gas has got to keep that vessal at the temp you want it..every time you use hot water the heater has got to come on and heat up the water to thee desired temp. a larger vessal will cost more than a smaller vessal to keep warm.. my opinon..water heater to big...need to split the system upinto 2 systems,and..with the price of fuel.the way it is now. i suggest to switch to 2 50 gallon electric heaters AND the heaters get put on timmers. if you both work heater off 9pm-5am on 5am-8am off8am-4pm something like that the ages of your children also have a big factor in all of this. teen agers stay in the bathroom or on the phone i never thought i would be telling people to go with elec water heaters. but my fuel price went up ti $4.a gallon a few mths ago. went down..but i think it will go back up...See MoreAre Direct Vent Water Heaters Reliable?
Comments (5)Thanks for the information Brickeyee. alan_s_thefirst - I've found there are three types of water heaters: Atmospheric: vents to a chimney such as the one you described Direct Vent: similar to atmospheric except it is designed to work without a chimney. It has piping for intake and exhaust that goes horizontally through an exterior wall. Power Vent: like an atmospheric water heater except it has a blower mounted on the top. When the heater runs, the blower exhausts the fumes either vertically or horizontally to the exterior of the building. Because of the blower, it gives you some flexibility in where it can be installed, vs the atmospheric, which needs a chimney, or the direct vent, which must be next to an exterior wall. And I guess I should mention there are high efficiency condensing water heaters and tankless units, but I am not considering either one. Apparently the atmospheric and the power vent are the most commonly installed water heaters these days. I got a quote from a plumber for a new 50 gallon gas fired water tank with installation: $2100 for a direct vent model, $1400 for a power vent unit. The direct vent model would require 4 weeks between order and delivery, too. My home does not have a chimney, and I would prefer that my next water heater not have the blower motor just to eliminate the noise and the fan. Plus, there is a durability factor with the blower. My 12 year old A.0. Smith water heater had the blower fail after six years of service. It was easy enough to replace, but it cost nearly $300. Anyway, thanks sharing your experiences with pilot lights and what might cause them to extinquish....See MoreBox in my NG water heater and plumb it for combustion and make up air?
Comments (21)"And that would be super-awesome if #5 applied. Read again." I just did. And I read it a few times before I posted. The section is "Fresh Air Openings for Confined Spaces." The subsection (B) is "All Air from Outdoors." #5 says: "5. Alternatively a single permanent opening may be used when communicating directly with the outdoors, or with spaces that freely communicate with the outdoors. The opening shall have a minimum free area of 1 square inch per 3,000 Btu/ hr of total input rating of all equipment in enclosure (see Figure 20)." Maybe you are focused on "all equipment in enclosure?" The only thing in the enclosure would be the WH. It would be helpful if you gave me a hint as to why #5 doesnt apply. Anyway, I think what I will do is ... nothing. Before I tear out a perfectly good WH that I haven't even made a mortgage payment on yet, I should probably wait and see whether I actually have a problem. I have CO detectors throughout the house so presumably I will know if there is a back draft situation. Thanks a lot for all the replies. They were very helpful in helping me think this through....See Morehendricus
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